Bye Bye Obie

Due to philosophical differences the Jim O'Brien era ended in Beantown yesterday, to the dismay of some and the delight of others. Count me in the latter group. I greatly respect Obie for taking this club to within 2 games of the NBA Finals in 2001 and all the other things he has done for the franchise, but I had tired of his over reliance on veteran role players like Waltah McCarty and especially his motionless offense that relied on three point shooting. The Celtics are not a hard team to defend or prepare for and hopefully now that will change.

Make no mistake, Obie's reliance on his precious "system" is what did him in in Boston. He continually tried to get the players to fit into the system as opposed to adjusting his game plans around the talent. Rather than take Obie to task for this, Ainge simply traded away his crutches in December when he sent Eric Williams, Tony Battie and Kedrick Brown to the Cavs for Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm and Yogi Stewart. Obie was crushed to say the least. Ainge wants to win in the future, Obie wanted to win right now.

The Celtics are one of the least fun teams to watch in the NBA because of their archaic offense. Paul Pierce gets triple teamed so much that he thinks he is wide open when only two people are on him, yet Obie never runs any plays to get PP free looks at the basket. He has stationed Ricky Davis, an excellent mid range shooter, out by the three-point line, also reducing his effectiveness in driving to the basket.
Obie amazed me by leaning so hard on his veterans this year when Ainge continually went to the press saying it was a rebuilding year and he had no expectations for the club, essentially giving Obie free reign to experiment with his line ups and strategies, regardless of the results. Obie, the stubborn bastard he is, wouldn’t bite and the team kept shooting three pointers and getting badly out rebounded night after night.

So now the team is in the hands of assistant John Carroll. Carroll was brought to Boston by Rick Pitino, so unfortunately, the Pitino era is still not done in Beantown. Argh. Whether or not Carroll will still be the head man next year remains to be seen. I look for Danny Ainge to bringin someone he can control and dictate things like playing time to, essentially having an extension of himself on the bench. The names I have heard the most are former Phoenix suns coaches Frank Johnson (an Ainge assistant when he was the head man there) and Paul Westphal as well as ex-Celtic Dave Cowens, currently employed the the club as a scout.

O'Brien will undoubtably get another coaching gig in the very near future. There is some speculation he may take over in New Jersey. Whatever happens, I wish him the best, but I'm still glad he is gone.

Oh yeah, the Celtics play the Pistons tonight. I'll be watching for obvious reasons.